Friday, April 29, 2011

Our Own Status Affects the Way Our Brains Respond to Others

Recent research shows that our own status affects the way our brains respond to others. It seems we give more weight to the opinions of those with the same status as we perceive ourselves to have than to those with either higher or lower status. Such status is not just monetary, but power, merit, etc.

Such research is only just beginning, but it should be of interest to those who study literature. We should see these status interactions playing out in literature, and the investigation of different kinds of -- and the evolution of what is considered to be valid -- status levels beyond mere Marxist materialist or postmodern power divisions should be of great interest. What variations and status evolutions might one see in society and in literature?